Can you weld on a welding cart?

admin

Are there any safety concerns with welding on your welding cart?  If you attached a small vise to the top of your cart and used it to weld on would you be endangering yourself or the welder?   I have seen some carts with 2 x 4 insulators to raise the top off of the cart.  I would, of course, prefer to use a workbench but its not always possible.
Reply:Try not to strike an arc on any pressurized tanks that might be attached to the cart.-Heath
Reply:Theoretically there is no issue as long as you always have your work lead hooked up, bla bla bla, disclaimers, qualifiers, yadda yadda. What I would consider real strongly is all the other tiny little details like spatter and grinding dust. If you've ever got spatter on top of your head or down your shirt you'll figure out it stays hot a long time and could burn the paint, hoses, etc.. The grinding tailings can be hot too and will creep into every nook and cranny.
Reply:When I was in school, guys in metals shop used to strike arcs on top of the welder's sheet metal just to be destructive.  Some would even write their names or other choice words by dragging the stick like a pen.  It never did anything but leave a nasty mark on the casing and get the writer/welding student (notice I don't use the word weldor) paddled.  At first, I was just sure that hooking the ground clamp to the welder and striking an arc would cause the earth to stop rotating or something...but when the shop closed those same welders were still there and working fine.  Like Sandy says, standard disclaimers for misuse of information, i.e., dont go welding two welders together and expect them to be twice as good as before.Last edited by smithboy; 10-20-2005 at 11:59 AM.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Presuming you are talking about electric welding here. if you have all the proper safety items in place and a suitable spark control program going on so you dont burn splatter and droppings into the insulation of cables or hoses, should not be an immediate problem. recommended to think seriously about hygiene for splatter, stored parts and tools, grinding dust, etc. as these are damaging to the tools. the electric machine is probably air cooled and a diet of conductive dust coming in thru the air channels is known to trash the interior boards and connections. proper shielding and work practices can avoid this. BTW, its no great shakes to extend a small folding tabletop area from the weld cart and use this while having a protective skirt over the welding machine area. use apiece of 3/8 plate and put your vice, jigset, or clamping setup on this, just dont plan to beat on it to bend or forge things.